Potato picking and sobtingr machine



H. RINK;

POTATO PICKIWG AND SORTING MACHINE.

AP PLICATION FILED MAYQ. I918.

Patented Nov. 18,1919).

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

'INVENTOR Ill WITNESSES ATTORNEY H. RINK.

POTATO PICKING AND SOHTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 9, 1918.

Patented Nov. 18, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2 INVENTOR WITNESSES ATTOH NEY Flt UNITED STATES PATENT oFFIoE.

HENRY RINK, F PERHAM, MINNESOTA POTATO PICKING AND SORTING MACHINE.

Application filed May 9, 1918. Serial No. 233,493.

To all wltom it may concern Be it known that I, HENRY RINK, a citi zen of the United States,residing at Perham, in the county of Ottertail and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Potato Picking and Sorting Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to harvesting ma chines, more particularly that type em ployed for gathering fruit or vegetables which lie on the ground.

The primary object of the invention is to pick up articles, such as potatoes, vibrate them rather roughly so that the dirt wlll be shaken off of them and the tops pulled off, and deliver them to a shaking screen whereby they are graded, the smallerones dropping through the screen and being des livered to one side and the larger ones drop-' ping ofl thescreen and being delivered at another point.

In carrying out this object, ll make use of various instrumentalities, some of which are old, but especially I employ a peculiar form of rarrier which trans orts the articles along a series of longitudlnalspaced fingers through which the dirt falls during the movement of the articles. I

Details of the preferred construction of my invention are set forth in the follow ing specification'and claims, reference belng made to the drawings herewith and in Figure l is a right sideelevation of this machine,

Fig. 2 view,

Fig. 3 a perspective view of the vrbratmg carrier, and v a Fig. 41k a perspective view of the mam carrier,

Fig. a perspective detail of a group of the so-called fingers such as overlle the carriers, exceptin that theseare mounted on a cross head of t eir own.

lLong horizontal side bars 1 are connected at their front by a nose 2 in which 18 mounted the lri bolt 3 of a yoke supporting the front an e and pair of wheels; and l may say at this point'that the propellmg mechanism for this machine may be any that will answer, such as power applied to the main axle or draft applied to the front axle. The main axle 4 is connected by a central longitudinal sectional gearing 5 with the powershaft 6, and this Patented Nov, 18,1919.

shaft and most of the elements hereinafter described are journaled in suitable bearings carried by a superstructure or framework 7. These details are not necessary to amplify. A running board 8 may be provlded for one operator, and a. seat 9 for the dr1ver. The latter will drive the horses 1f horse power is employed, or will manipulate the levers if the machine is driven by its own motive power, but the present specification is confined entirely to the mechanism for gathering and grading the articles, and the latter will be called potatoes. Let us assume that the potatoes have been dug and lie on the surface of the ground which surface is not necessarily even, and besides its ridges and gulleys it have some of their tops yet attached. Instead of picking up these potatoes manually, I propose to gather them mechanically,

and while gathering them I propose to grade them into largesize and small size, and perhaps deposit them in sacks or other receptacles.

There are two spaced points 10 which travelon or near or perhaps run through the ground. and between them a fixed blade 11 acting in the nature of a shovel to scrape up the potatoes, although of course it will gather up considerable dirt and such stalks as are attached to the tubers themselves. Immediately the gathered articles fall onto a short carrier 12 with which the picker is provided. Referring nowto Fig. 2, it will be seen that this carrier leads upward, to a point Where it overlies the main carrier 13 the latter being mounted in a frame 14: of its own and to which the frame 15 of the small carrier is pivoted at the point 16. The front end of the main carrier and therefore the rear end of the small carrier may be adjusted vertically by a rod 17 connected with a hand lever 18 standing within reach of the driver.

I may here say that the main carrier (see Fig. t) has a lower roller made up of sections 20 mounted loosely on a shaft 21, and an upper roller 22 made in one piece mount-ed rigidly on the power shaft 6, and around these rollers travel chains 23 carrying cross strips 24lthus producing a transversely slatted structure which is quite serviceable for gathering potatoes. A series of long fingers 25 have eyes 26 at their v with the exception of the chains 23 which preferably move just" inside the side bars of the frame 14. I have thus given a de tailed description of the carrier, which is referred to again below.

Within-the framework is disposed what 'I 3. Its frame 34 is-suitably mounted at'its front'end on a shaft '33 standing some distance in rear of and below-the main shaft 6 and carrying roller sections 30, and in the other end of the same is'mounted a shaft 36 carrying aroller 32. Here al'so fingers are employed, much likethose numbered 25 in Fig. 4 and just described. Here also," there are a pair of chains and cross str s moving to the rear on the upper stretc 1. Butby preference I here employ another set of fingers 37 (see- Fig. mounted on a cross head 38, which cross'head is pivotally supported within the framework 7 as best seen in Fig. 2. The result in this case is' that the strips are moved longitudinally within the frame'34' over "the lower set of fingers 35, while the upper set of fingers 37 tubers-hang through them and are struck by means for vihrating grain. containin are delivered back onto the.

the strips in thelower stretch while thetops Slide-itiflflg these'fingers and-the resistance set up causes-the potatoes to be separated from their vines and dropthrough'the structure, while the-topspassofl at therear and und. Meanwhiie vibratingmotion'iszglven to the entire-carrier by any appropriate means. I have shown upstanding ears 40011 the frame intervals while-springs '43 draw-the entire frame back to its normal position a'fter the camshave passed. This is a well .known carriers'or screens, and; no'novelty 'forthe detail thereof is claimed; nevertheless I .findthis type of vibrator efioientalthough I might employ another.

Eeneath this: carrier 1 is 'located what I call thelower grate '45, which is inclined downward and to the left end delivers into a collecting trough 46. The latter contains a carrier 4.? (see Fig. 2:) by which all the pot'atoes are delivered to a second elevator broadly indicated by the numeral 48, and at the upper end of this is an inwardly extendiugsp ut 49.

Rollers 50 and 51 stand at a rearward inclinebeneath said spout and between bafile plates 52, one roller being driven by power from a suitable source and the other having its bearings pressed by springs 53 toward the first'ro ler with'the propertension. All the otatoes thus far gathered are delivered by t e spout to the rollers, and these tear from the-tubers such stalks and roots a may yet be attached to them, while the rearward call the vibrating carrier as best seen in incline of the rollers themselves is suflicient to deliver the potatoes onto the next element which is the grader. The dra-win s show fully but thus far 'I have not descri ed, the power mechanism for drivin the various elements. This may well consist of sprockets and chains connected with the power shaft 6 so that the rotation of the main Wheels,'through' the earing 5, is utilized to drive the elements 0 the structure; and if the machine is driven by a motor mounted on its frameworksomewhere, the motor will doubtless-he connected'with said main wheels in a manner not necessary to amplify.

The grader 60 is here hown inthe form of a shaking screen. It is mounted within a frame 61 which is hung on links 62 and the frame'has a pin 63 knocked by a cam or crank 64: in each rotation of the shaft 65,

much as shaking screens are often vibrated.

I do not to be limited to this particular form, as any other which will answer the purposeniay be equally eifective. The mesh of the screen within the grader will deter mine the size of the potatoe sorted out, and this of course maybe varied according to the wishesof the user. In any event -those sulf- 'ficiently small will pass through'the screen, and all others willpassover it. The lar er potatoes will drop into the "hopper'fifi eneath therear and lower end of the grader,

and may be delivered through either of its spouts 67 and 68 according to which way the .switch'plate 69 i set. The smaller potatoes falling through the ader drop onto the upper griateWO whose lower contracted end constitutes a "spout which delivers them to the right side ofthenrachine above therunning board 8. Although .I'have not so shown it, provision may be made "for mounting sac'ksorbags beneath the several spoutsso that thejgraded potatoes may 'be put into their proper receptacles, and :the operator from'time"to time'willsetthem dfl onto th'e ground as the machine progresses. Ihave given the operatimi or this machine and the uses of its various instrumentalitiesas the ltl neeneur description out their constructionend locetion occurs in the shove specificetion, hut it mey he Well to cell ettention to the test thet the potetoes gethered ere first cerried upnerd end dropped onto the vihreting cerrier end move under the fingers "3? it they ere employed in conjunction therewith, end hy this cerrier or its fingers or hoth, the tuhers ere ceused to move through the verious fingers end ere eutometicelly deteched from the tops vvherees the tops ere dropped et the reer end oil the mechine With the encemption of such smell perticles es yet edhere lens the potetoes erecerried torvverd end eleveted, end hy the spout t9 ere delivered to the rollers where the remeining perticles ere drevvn trom them hetore they ere greded. 'lhe eder sorts out the smell potetoes trom the erge ones end delivers the difiterent sizes et difierent points tor seclring it desired, end through ell this course much egitetion hes heeninvolved so thet the dirt on the potetoes is removed, even though they invention. It is to he understood thet l mey melre such chenges in construction end errengement end comhinetion of perts, metcriels, dimensions, et cetere, es mey prove expedient end tell Within the scope oi the ep ended cleims,

eving thus tully described my invention, vvhetll cleirn es nevv end desire to secure hy Letters Petent, is

l. The comhinetion With e cerrier includ ing rollers end en endless sletted helt Whose upper end lovver stretches move in opposite directions neer eech other; of e grid-like structure including longitudinel fingers fieedly supported by the roller shetts end disposed hetvveen seid stretches ot the helt vvherehy meteriel cerried hy the upper stretch thereot mey heng through the grid to he struck by the slets in the lower stretch.

2. The comhinetion With e treme end rollers journeled ecross the ends oil the heme,

one of them being in sections; ot fingers the other roller, end en endless sletted helt moving eround the rollers end fingers.

t. 'lhe herein descrihed cerrier compri ing e treme, e roller journeled inone end thereof, e sectionel roller journeled in the other end thereof, cheins connecting seid rollers, cross strips connecting seid cheins, and e series oi fingers heving eyes et one end mounted on-the shett hetvveen the sections of seid sectionel roller end their other ends overlying the other roller.

5, lln ecerrier tor the purpose described, the comhinetion With e treme, perellel roll ers therein, one roller heing in sections, e

series of fingers heving eyes disposed on the shett hetvveen seid sections end their other ends overlying the other roller, end the oer rier proper consisting ot 'tvvo cheins connecting seid rollers end cross strips connecting the cheins end treveling over seid fingers; ode, cross heed, end e second series ot fingers cerried therehy end overlying seid strips,

ln testimony vvhereot ll efiie my signeture in presence ot tvvo Witnesses;

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